Richard Norwood Gray

Visitation will be held at Memorial Funeral Home on Saturday, December 12 at 1:00 pm. A celebration of life service will immediately follow at 2:00pm.

Richard was born in Evanston, IL on February 3, 1934 to Richard Fulton Gray and Audrey (Dielschneider) Gray. At 7, they moved to Portland, OR. Where he attended Grant High School, graduating in 1952. He attended the University of Oregon, graduating in 1956 with a Bachelor in Business Administration. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He lettered in tennis both at Grant High and U.of Oregon.

In December of 1959 he married Jennifer Sercombe. They were just 3 weeks shy of their 56th wedding anniversary. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, Beth Patton (Steve) and Julie Fisher (Scott), his seven grandchildren, Justin LaBella (Kallie), Jeff LaBella, Jack Patton, Will Patton, Evan Patton, Sydney Fisher, and Gray Fisher.

Richard began his career in personnel administration in Salem, OR before becoming the asst. city manager. He spent the next 25 years as City Manager of Grand Junction, CO, Norman, OK, Farmington, NM, and Columbia, MO. After retiring from City Management in 1985 he continued his career as Executive Director for a non-profit, social services agency. He retired in 2002.

During his career he served on numerous professional committees and boards and was a lifetime member of Rotary International. He served 6 years on the Columbia Neighborhood Watch Board as treasurer and received the “Hero Award” for outstanding volunteer in community protection in 2011.

In lieu of flowers, memorials in his name may be made to Merkel Cell Carcinoma Research. Checks payable to: Paul Ngheim, MD, PHD. Mail or leave at Memorial Funeral Home